Method for direct-to-patient marketing and clinical trials recruitment with outcomes tracking and method for confidential appointment booking

ABSTRACT

Generally, the present invention is directed to marketing techniques and more particularly to direct-to-patient marketing for medical devices, pharmaceutical drugs, and biotechnology products. The approach presented here may also be applied to the recruitment of patients for clinical trials evaluation including tracking outcomes after treatment. An embodiment of the invention includes the steps of finding potential patients, qualifying potential patients, connecting potential patients to preferred physicians, and tracking the patient&#39;s progress through the appointment phase and tracking outcomes.

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 10/440,594,filed 19 May 2003 U.S. Pat. No. 7,499,866. The application isincorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed generally to marketing techniques andmore particularly to direct-to-patient marketing for medical devices,pharmaceutical drugs, and biotechnology products. The approach presentedhere may also be applied to the recruitment of patients for clinicaltrials evaluation including tracking outcomes after treatment. Theapproach presented here may also be applied to a wide variety ofconsumer products such as automotive parts, electronic components, andthe like.

BACKGROUND

For over fifty years, medical device companies (along withpharmaceutical and biotechnology firms) have been marketing and sellingtheir products in a conventional Value-Added Reseller (VAR) model.Physicians who become users of a given product act as value-addedresellers to patients or third-party payers such as insurance companiesand HMOs.

Unfortunately, the slow pace of recruiting significant numbers ofphysicians often throttles product sales because the only patients whocan be sold the product are those who have contact with the limitednumber of physicians who use/endorse the product. This leaves the vastmajority of potential patients untapped. This problem is particularlyproblematic for start-up or emerging phase medical device firms with alimited sales and marketing staff and/or budget to reach thegeographically dispersed physician population.

Another area within the medical community sensitive to similarconstraints lies in the recruitment and tracking of patients in aclinical trials setting. Here, the problem is at least three-fold.First, especially in the case of therapeutic drugs, a sufficiently largepatient population needs to be identified and recruited with a specificdisease state or condition appropriate for the drug under evaluation.Secondly, the recruited patient population needs to be tracked throughthe clinical treatment protocol, where in many cases multiple proceduresare required over extended periods of time. And lastly, in many casesthe outcomes evaluation of the therapeutic drug or procedure may requireextended tracking of the patient population after treatment has beencompleted to quantify long-term benefits (e.g., survival rates) anduncover unexpected side-effects.

Given the above scenario, there is a need for a method of finding andpre-screening (qualifying) potential patients either for referral to anappropriate physician or clinical trials investigator, with thefollow-on goal of tracking their progress through the various stages ofappointment, treatment, and outcomes verification.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Generally, the present invention relates to marketing techniques andmore particularly to direct-to-patient marketing for medical devices,pharmaceutical drugs, and biotechnology products. The approach presentedhere may also be applied to a wide variety of consumer products such asautomotive parts, electronic components, and the like.

One particular embodiment of the invention is directed to findingpotential patients who are candidates for a specific product. The methodalso includes the steps of qualifying the potential patients utilizing apre-determined criterion, connecting qualified patients to a vendorproviding the specific product, and tracking patient satisfaction.

Another embodiment of the present invention is directed to a method ofbooking and tracking secure patient appointments with a preferredphysician. The method also includes the steps of employing an on-linesecure, password protected portal for communication between the bookingagent and the preferred physician. The marketing company may alsocontract with the preferred physician for pre-approved appointment timeslots, which may be scheduled by the booking agent. The booking agentmay confirm that the patient made the scheduled appointment and trackoutcomes by querying the preferred physician by means of the secureportal.

The above summary of the present invention is not intended to describeeach illustrated embodiment or every implementation of the presentinvention. The figures and the detailed description which follow moreparticularly exemplify these embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention may be more completely understood in consideration of thefollowing detailed description of various embodiments of the inventionin connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 through FIG. 18 and the accompanying exhibits 1 through 4 outlinethe process of finding, qualifying, connecting, and tracking potentialpatients/patients in flowchart format.

While the invention is amenable to various modifications and alternativeforms, specifics thereof have been shown by way of example in thedrawings and will be described in detail. It should be understood,however, that the intention is not to limit the invention to theparticular embodiments described. On the contrary, the intention is tocover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling withinthe spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In general, the present invention is directed to marketing techniquesand more particularly to direct-to-patient marketing for medicaldevices, pharmaceutical drugs, and biotechnology products. The approachpresented here may also be applied to a wide variety of consumerproducts such as automotive parts, electronic components, and the like.

In one embodiment of the present invention the web-baseddirect-to-patient marketing technique is designed to accomplish at leastfour goals, they are:

-   -   1) Find patients who are candidates for a specific medical        product or therapy;    -   2) Qualify the potential patients per a pre-determined        criterion;    -   3) Connect qualified patients to a physician using a        pre-determined product or therapy;    -   4) Track patients through the appointment visit and treatment        phase and track outcomes.

An embodiment of the process of finding, qualifying, connecting, andtracking potential patients is outlined below in flowchart format asdescribed in FIGS. 1 through FIG. 18 and the accompanying exhibits 1through 4.

In one embodiment the process may be a direct-to-patient marketingprogram funded by a client company with their own particular device orprocedure, wherein the client company has an already establishedphysician and/or health care professional base which utilizes orprescribes the client company's product. Wherein health careprofessionals may include doctors, dentists, nurses or non-licensedagents of the marketing company. In order to recruit potential patientsto physicians and/or health care professionals who use the clientcompany's products (hereafter referred to as preferred physicians), themarketing company may establish and maintain a non-branded informationalwebsite to attract patients with a specific medical condition relevantto the client company's products. This non-branded website may containnon-branded medical information about the relevant medical condition andmay also include a toll-free number where interested parties may speakdirectly with an agent of the marketing company at a facility hereafterreferred to as the Patient Interaction Center (PIC). The agents at thePatient Interaction Center may be health care professionals (nurses,med-techs, physicians, etc.) who may answer general medical questionsposed by callers. The PIC agents may also screen (qualify) potentialpatients by asking a series of questions designed to determine if thecaller is a good candidate for the client company's products. Thequalifying questions may include, but are not limited to, determiningthe following;

-   1) verifying that specific alternative medical options for treating    the patient's medical condition have been tried and failed.-   2) verifying that specific alternative medical options for treating    the patient's medical condition have been evaluated and rejected.-   3) verifying that the potential patient may not have adverse    reactions to certain drugs or techniques that may be used with the    client's specific medical product or procedure.-   4) verifying that the potential patient has medical insurance or    alternative means to pay for the client's specific medical product    or procedure.    The PIC agents may also have the ability to refer potential patients    to the client's preferred physicians, as well as book an appointment    with a preferred physician.

The marketing company may also generate and maintain a database to tracka patient through the entire process of scheduling an appointment,reminding the patient of the upcoming appointment, re-scheduling theappointment if necessary, and providing a secure, or password protected,portal entry into the database for the preferred physician to recordoutcomes.

With reference to FIG. 1, the process starts wherein the client companymay provide a list of its preferred physicians (FIG. 1; step 1000) tothe marketing company which in turn may enter this information into aphysician database (FIG. 1; step 1500). The marketing company may thenforward a contract and datasheet (exhibit 1) to the preferred physician(FIG. 1; step 2000). If the physician chooses to participate in theprogram by completing the enrollment contract (FIG. 1; step 3000), themarketing company verifies the information is correct in the physiciandatabase (FIG. 1; step 4000) and the physician may then be designated asa participating member (FIG. 1; step 5000), and the physician may beentered into a software package which locates physicians near aparticular postal (zip) code (FIG. 2; step 6000). Once the physiciancompletes and forwards the datasheet (FIG. 1; steps 3100 through 3200)to the marketing company (FIG. 2; step 7000), the information may beentered into the marketing company's physician database (FIG. 2; step8000) and a Username and Password may be created for the physician (FIG.2; step 9000) to enter the database via a secure portal operated by themarketing company, and the physician is designated as a participatingmember with set-up complete (FIG. 2; step 10000).

If the physician supplied website information for his/her practice (FIG.3; step 11000), a link may be created from the zip code locator to thephysician's web page (FIG. 3; step 12000) and a “welcome on board”letter is sent to the physician containing a Username and Password (FIG.3; step 13000). The physician may then log into the database via thesecure portal (FIG. 3; step 14000) and review, update, and confirm theaccuracy of their contact information (FIG. 3; step 15000 through FIG.4; step 18000) one step of which may be to reserve dedicated time slotsthat may allow the marketing company to book appointments on-line forpotential patients (FIG. 4; step 19000). From time to time, it maybecome necessary for the physician to further update the information inthe marketing company's database (FIG. 5; step 20000). The updateprotocol is outlined in steps 21000 through 26000 wherein if thephysician is web-activated and authorized (FIG. 5; step 21000), thephysician logs into the database via the secure portal (FIG. 5; step22000), makes the desired changes (FIG. 5; step 24000), and when theinformation is saved (FIG. 5; step 25000) the updates are automaticallyregistered in the physician's web page and entered into the zip codelocator software (FIG. 5; step 26000).

With the client company and its preferred physicians under contract, themarketing company may proceed to generate a non-branded informationalwebsite relevant to the client company's products. The purpose of thenon-branded website may be to attract targeted patients, family membersor other interested parties of the patient with the goal of buildingawareness and interest in exploring a treatment option utilizing theclient company's product. The first step in designing the non-brandedinformational website may include identifying the targeted patientpopulation in terms of the primary medical condition for which thepotential patient may be seeking treatment, and the demographics of thetargeted patient population in terms of gender, age, race, geography,and the like, and identifying key motivational factors that contributeto the potential patient seeking treatment (FIG. 6A; step 30100 &30200).

The developed website may be constructed to have the followingattributes (FIG. 6A; step 30300):

-   1) The non-branded website preferably has no direct mention of the    client company or the client company's specific products;-   2) The website may have informational content focused on a specific    disease state or medical condition;-   3) The website may provide current, objective, medically accurate    information on all available therapies for the targeted condition;-   4) The website may provide a confidential toll-free phone line or    e-mail address to communicate with a health care professional.    In addition to the above, the website may also be constructed to    increase the probability that a potential patient browsing the    internet via search engines for information relative to a medical    condition that may be treated utilizing the client company's    products, will be preferentially directed to the marketing company's    non-branded website, hereafter referred to as search engine    optimization (SEO) techniques (FIG. 6A; Step 30310). Also, doorway    pages may be constructed (FIG. 6A; step 30400) which may be aimed at    specific targeted audiences and may be optimized for search engine    placement around a specific theme. These doorway pages may allow the    marketing company to customize the home page of the non-branded    website for a specific group of potential patients upon entry into    the informational non-branded site. The use of doorway pages may    also have the beneficial effect of increasing traffic to the    non-branded website by potential patients utilizing search engines    to browse the internet for relevant medical information. An example    of such a doorway page may be an intentionally created website with    a specific informational theme, such as “skin cancer”, whereas the    ultimate goal of the site may be to increase internet traffic to a    linked non-branded informational website (crafted by the marketing    company) on treatments for skin cancer (the client company's    product).

In addition to the above use of doorway pages (FIG. 6A; step 30400)there are additional web-based marketing procedures that may be employedto increase potential patient flow to the marketing company'snon-branded informational website. The list of procedures may include,but is not limited to the following (FIG. 6A; step 30500):

-   -   1) Optimization of the informational website for free listings        (FIG. 6B; step 30510)    -   2) Use of Pay-Per-Click Advertising (FIG. 6B; step 30520)    -   3) Use of Paid Inclusions (FIG. 6B; step 30530)    -   4) Webcasts (FIG. 6B; step 30540)    -   5) Banner Ads (FIG. 6B; step 30550)    -   6) Incoming Links (FIG. 6B; step 30560)    -   7) Support Groups (FIG. 6B; step 30570)    -   8) E-mail campaigns (FIG. 6B; step 30580)    -   9) Discussion Group Infiltration (FIG. 6B; step 30590)        Each of the above will be described in greater detail below.

Concerning optimization of the informational website for free listings(step 30510), most web-based search results are “free” to the siteowners, meaning that the search engine may find the site throughtechniques known to those skilled in the art as “robots,” “worms,” or“webcrawlers”, or through submissions by the site owners, which may theninsert the sites into its database for retrieval by user searches. Themarketing company's search engine optimization procedure for freelistings may include, but is not limited to, the following four steps:

-   -   1) Coding of the pages in the non-branded informational website        and content development so all important search engines and        directories may properly associate them with relevant search        terms    -   2) Submission of the website pages to the most important search        engine databases and sites    -   3) Use of doorway pages to improve “relevance” listings and        funnel traffic to the site. Doorway pages are additional Web        pages that link to (or “point” to) the main marketing company's        non-branded informational website and help cast a wider net    -   4) Regular maintenance of the search engine listings.        The use of Pay-Per-Click Advertising (FIG. 6B; step 30520) may        also increase traffic to the marketing company's informational        website. Pay-per-click has recently been introduced to the        search engine industry, whereby advertisers bid for placement on        relevant search results and pay only when a potential patient        clicks on their listing. The marketing company may also utilize        a paid inclusion program (FIG. 6B; step 30530) whereby        advertisers (the marketing company) pay for hits to their        website typically in one of two ways (or both):

1) A one-time fee for each web page submitted

2) A flat price only when a listing receives clicks

Webcasts (FIG. 6B; step 30540) can be live (synchronous) or archived(asynchronous). Webcasts can be created for specific websites as a“joint venture” or as a central marketing event publicized by manywebsites. It may also be beneficial to have the webcast publicize thewebsite so prospective patients can be drawn there for tracking andlinking to designated physicians, or the marketing company may alsopurchase banner ads (FIG. 6B; step 35550) on other websites to attractpatients to the non-branded “client's” informational website.

The marketing company may also utilize incoming links (FIG. 6B; step30560) to provide a source of traffic that may greatly improve theplacement of the marketing company's site in the search results of themajor search engines, all of which typically rely on a “link analysis”to help them determine the relevancy of the listed site. In thisscenario, a higher relevance (i.e., more links from sites with similartechnical content) generally delivers a more favorable position in thesearch results. Given this, the marketing company may identifyappropriate websites from which to obtain incoming links, solicitincoming links, and provide reciprocating links as appropriate. Supportgroups (FIG. 6B; step 30570) may also prove to be beneficial to themarketing company's efforts. In addition to seeking incoming links (FIG.6B; step 30560) from the websites of support groups, the marketingcompany may also develop a relationship that involves the providing ofadditional educational materials to their members possibly via a massE-mail campaign (FIG. 6B; step 30580) and/or participating in localmeetings. Additional E-mail campaigns may be instituted by pollingsuitable health care sites (e.g., webmd.com) on the web and ask them tobid on submitting names of likely prospective patients gleaned fromtheir “opt-in” mailing lists. A highly targeted mass e-mail may then besent to this qualified list, inviting the individuals to visit themarketing company's site.

Also, the marketing company may solicit the preferred physicians toprovide e-mail addresses of their likely prospective patients; in thiscase, the e-mail would go out under the name of the preferred physicianor its clinic.

And lastly, the marketing company may utilize a procedure known asdiscussion group infiltration (FIG. 6B; step 30590) to increase trafficto its non-branded informational website with the ultimate goal ofincreasing patient flow to the preferred physicians. In one embodiment,discussion group infiltration (FIG. 6B; step 30590) may be the personalmonitoring of select discussion groups and the insertion of appropriatemessages. There are a number of relevant discussion groups. Some of themost popular are newsgroups. The newsgroups may be “spidered” by themajor search engines for links to websites and in many cases areconsidered incoming links (FIG. 6B; step 30560) for the website, whichmay help improve site relevancy and search result position. In addition,participants in these discussion groups may be steered toward thewebsite by judicious insertion of messages containing the URL of thewebsite.

With any or all of the above techniques in place which maypreferentially direct a “web-browsing” potential patient to themarketing company's website (FIG. 6B; steps 30510 through 30590), thepotential patient may view the website (FIG. 6; step 31000) and may comeacross the contact information for the Patient Interaction Center (FIG.6; step 32000). Wherein the potential patient may choose to contact thePatient Interaction Center (FIG. 6; step 33000) either by phone or othermeans for real-time access to information relevant to the patient'sspecific medical condition. The Patient Interaction Center Agent (PICAgent) may take the call and answer initial questions posed by thecaller (FIG. 6; step 35000). The PIC Agent may then attempt to determineif the caller is an existing patient (FIG. 7; step 36000) or a potentialnew patient. In the event the caller is not an existing patient, the PICAgent may open a new patient record (FIG. 7; step 37000) and attempt tocollect the potential patient's name if possible (FIG. 7; step 38000)and may begin to conduct real-time pre-qualifying questions (FIG. 7;step 39000). The pre-qualifying questions may include the following;

-   1) verifying that specific alternative medical options for treating    the patient's medical condition have been tried and failed;-   2) interactively querying the interested party as to the potential    patient's medical condition with respect to the subject matter of    the web site;-   3) interactively querying the interested party as to the potential    patient's symptoms with respect to the subject matter of the web    site;-   4) interactively querying the interested party as to the potential    patient's current medical treatment with respect to the subject    matter of the web site;-   5) interactively querying the interested party as to the potential    patient's use of interventional therapies, drugs or devices or    adverse reactions with respect to the subject matter of the web    site;-   6) verifying that specific alternative medical options for treating    the patient's medical condition have been evaluated and rejected;-   7) verifying that the potential patient has medical insurance or    alternative means to pay for medical treatments.    From the answers received from the pre-qualifying questions (FIG. 7;    step 39000), the PIC agent may attempt to determine if the potential    patient is seeking an appointment (FIG. 7; step 40000), and if so,    the PIC agent may begin to gather pertinent information required to    make an appointment with a preferred physician (FIG. 8; step 41000).    If the potential patient consents, the PIC agent may assist in    making an appointment for the patient by first locating the nearest    preferred physician via the postal (zip) code locator software (FIG.    8; step 42000) and if the closest preferred physician is an    established member and user set-up has been completed (FIG. 8; step    43000) the PIC Agent may select an appointment time (FIG. 9; step    44000) from the available time slots entered by the preferred    physician in the company's database. Or, if the potential patient    seeks immediate real-time contact with a preferred physician, the    PIC Agent may initiate a 3 way teleconference connecting the    potential patient with the preferred physician. Once selected, the    PIC Agent may then save the appointment record in the marketing    company's database and set the status of the appointment to    “Awaiting Physician Confirmation” (FIG. 9; step 45000). If the    patient authorizes an appointment reminder (FIG. 9; step 45500) the    PIC Agent may create an entry in the “To Do” section of the    company's database to contact and remind the patient within a    specific time period, preferably 2 business days prior to the    scheduled appointment (FIG. 9; step 45600). When completed, the PIC    Agent may then save the patient record information in the marketing    company's database (FIG. 9; step 46000).

The PIC software may then send an E-mail to the preferred physiciannotifying him/her that a pending appointment has been entered into themarketing company's database (FIG. 10; step 48000). The E-mail maycontain no direct mention of the patient's name or any otherconfidential data associated with the patient. Once received, thephysician or his/her authorized office representative may log into themarketing company's database via the secure portal to record thepatient's data and scheduled appointment time (step 49000) and mayeither confirm (FIG. 10; step 50000) or choose to re-schedule (FIG. 10;step 50100) the appointment. Once confirmed by the physician or his/heroffice representative, the status of the patient's scheduled appointmentis set to “Confirmed” in the marketing company's database (FIG. 11; step51000). In the interim between confirming the appointment (FIG. 11; step51000) and the scheduled appointment date, either the patient orphysician may need to cancel or re-schedule the appointment. In the casewhere the patient may need to cancel or re-schedule the appointment(FIG. 11; step 52000), the patient may contact the PIC Agent to assistin either case. If the preferred physician is enrolled in the marketingcompany's program, i.e., a set-up and complete preferred physician (FIG.11; step 52050), the PIC Agent may contact the physician or officerepresentative by phone, or other means, to re-schedule the appointment.The PIC Agent may choose to initiate a 3 way conference call with thephysician's office and patient (FIG. 8; step 43100) to facilitatere-scheduling the appointment (FIG. 8; step 43200) and oncere-scheduled, the PIC Agent may create an appointment record in themarketing company's database and set the status in the database to“Confirmed” (FIG. 8; step 43300).

Similarly, in the interim between confirming the appointment (FIG. 11;step 51000) and the scheduled appointment date, the preferred physicianmay need to cancel or re-schedule the appointment (FIG. 11; step 53000).In the case where the preferred physician is enrolled in the marketingcompany's program, i.e., a set-up and complete preferred physician (FIG.11; step 53050), the physician may either contact the PIC Agent (FIG.11; step 53053) to assist in the process, or if time is of the essence,e.g., the appointment may be within a specific time period, preferably 2business days (FIG. 11; step 53100), the physician may contact thepatient directly to cancel or re-schedule (FIG. 18; steps 53110 through53130) the appointment. Or, however, if time is not of the essence,e.g., the appointment may be greater than a specific time period,preferably greater than 2 business days (FIG. 11; step 53100), thephysician may utilize the secure portal to cancel or re-schedule (FIG.16; steps 53200 through 53600) the appointment. If neither patient norphysician initiates a cancellation or re-schedule request in the interimbetween appointment confirmation (FIG. 8; step 43300) and within aspecific time period, preferably 2 business days prior to theappointment, and if the patient authorized an appointment reminder (FIG.12; step 54000), the PIC Agent may be notified by an electronicreminder, or other means, to contact the patient within a specific timeperiod, preferably 2 business days prior to the appointment (FIG. 12;step 55000). If the physician is an established member and user set-uphas been completed (FIG. 12; step 56500), on the evening of theappointment date (FIG. 12; step 56000) an E-mail may be sent to thephysician's office representative as a reminder to update the patient'sfile after the office visit utilizing the secure portal entry to themarketing company's database (FIG. 12; step 57000). The physician maythen log into the database via the secure portal (FIG. 12; step 58000)and verify whether or not the appointment actually occurred (FIG. 13;step 59000), and may confirm if the patient signed the appropriateconsent form (FIG. 13; step 60000). If the patient signed theappropriate consent form, the physician may make an entry into themarketing company's database via the portal as to whether the patientwas referred to follow-on treatment (FIG. 13; step 61000). The physicianor office representative may then update the patient's database filewith the recommended follow-on treatment (FIG. 13; step 62000) and logthe scheduled appointment for such treatment (FIG. 13; step 63000through FIG. 14; 64000), wherein the database software may automaticallycreate the follow-up appointment (FIG. 14; step 65000).

In the event the patient did not cancel or re-schedule the originalappointment, but nonetheless did not make the appointment, e.g. a“no-show”, the office representative may attempt to discern the reasonfor missing the appointment and may log the results in the marketingcompany's database (FIG. 15; step 59100). If the patient chooses, theoffice representative may reschedule the appointment (FIG. 15; steps59200 through 59240) or, if the patient chooses not to re-schedule theappointment, the office representative will attempt to discern thereason and input the information in the marketing company's database viathe secure portal (FIG. 15; step 59300).

If, however, the patient chooses to outright cancel the appointment(i.e., no re-scheduling), and if the appointment has drawn near, saywithin a specific time period, preferably 2 business days (FIG. 18; step52110), the patient may be advised to cancel the appointment directlywith the physician's office (FIG. 18; step 52140). Once contacted by thepatient, the physician may log into the marketing company's database viathe secure portal (FIG. 18; step 52150) and complete the cancellationquestionnaire and the PIC software automatically sets the patient'sstatus to “Cancelled by Patient” (FIG. 18; step 52160). Alternatively,if the patient chooses to cancel well in advance of the appointmentdate, say for example greater than 2 business days prior to theappointment, the patient may contact the PIC Agent who will cancel theappointment in the marketing company's database (FIG. 18; step 52112)and forward an e-mail to the physician signifying changes in thedatabase that may be reviewed via the secure portal (FIG. 18 step52114). The physician may then log into the portal and confirm thepatient's cancellation (FIG. 18; steps 52116 through 52120).

Another embodiment of the present invention is directed to the casewhere the marketing company generates and maintains a non-brandedwebsite which has multiple clients, each with their own list ofpreferred health care professionals (vendors). The multiple clients mayspan a broad array of medical products or therapies including but notlimited to; cancer diagnostics and therapeutics, surgical instruments,diabetes products, cardio-vascular implants, sexual disfunctionproducts, interventional drugs, and the like. In this case, thenon-branded website may be designed to attract interested parties and/orpotential patients seeking general information about a medical conditionor therapy. Given this, the PIC Agent (booking agent) may first qualifythe interested party and/or potential patient as to which clientcompany's particular product or therapy best suits the needs of thepotential patient. Once the PIC Agent has identified the particularclient company which best provides products or therapies given thepotential patient's medical condition, the PIC Agent may begin theprocedure of connecting the potential patient to their preferred healthcare professionals, assisting in booking an appointment with one oftheir preferred health care professional, and tracking outcomes in themanner described earlier.

As noted above, the present invention is applicable to marketingtechniques and is believed to be particularly useful fordirect-to-patient marketing for medical products and procedures. Thepresent invention should not be considered limited to the particularexamples described above, but rather should be understood to cover allaspects of the invention as fairly set out in the attached claims.Various modifications, equivalent processes, as well as numerousstructures to which the present invention may be applicable will bereadily apparent to those of skill in the art to which the presentinvention is directed upon review of the present specification. Theclaims are intended to cover such modifications and devices.

1. An electronic method performed on a computer for booking appointmentsfor a client's medical product or therapy for a patient via a marketer'sweb site, comprising: a. finding potential patients who are suitablecandidates for a specific medical condition including the steps of; b.interactively qualifying interested parties utilizing predeterminedcriteria c. referring the qualified interested party to at least onepreferred health care professional capable of offering the client'sspecific product comprising; 1) electronically querying by a computer,in advance, with preferred health care professionals which can providemedical services utilizing the client's product or therapy, 2)electronically querying by a computer a further database of saidpreferred health care professionals providing the patient with apreferred health care professional most appropriate to the patient; inadvance of booking appointments, electronically contracting, by acomputer, with preferred health care professionals to obtainpre-approved appointment slots which may be scheduled by the marketer;and storing said data in marketer's data base; electronically queryingthe patient to schedule an appointment for the patient with a preferredhealth care professional drawing from the data base of pre-approvedappointment slots; and scheduling an appointment for the patient with apreferred health care professional drawing from the database ofpre-approved appointment slots.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein saidpreferred health care professional providing step is based on theprofessional most geographically convenient to the patient.
 3. Themethod of claim 1 wherein said preferred healthcare professionalproviding step includes providing by a computer professionals' namesbased on objective criteria associated with selection of professionalsstored in a database.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein said qualifyingstep includes: interactively querying the interested party as to thepotential patient's current medical treatment with respect to subjectmatter of the web site.
 5. An electronic method performed on a computerfor booking appointments for a client's medical product or therapy for apatient via a marketer's web site, comprising: a. finding potentialpatients who are suitable candidates for a specific medical conditionincluding the steps of; 1) posting an informational website withinformation relevant to the specific medical condition; 2) providing bya computer interactive technical assistance reachable via the site toassist interested parties with questions relating generally to saidspecific medical condition, b. by a computer qualifying interestedparties utilizing predetermined criteria; c. by a computer connectingthe qualified interested party to at least one preferred health careprofessional capable of offering the client's specific productcomprising; 1) contracting in advance with preferred health careprofessionals which can provide medical services utilizing client'sproduct or therapy, 2) by a computer querying a database of saidpreferred health care professionals 3) by a computer providing thepatient with a preferred health care professional most appropriate topatient; in advance of booking appointments by a computer, contractingwith preferred health care professionals to obtain pre-approvedappointment slots which may be scheduled by the marketer; and storingsaid data in marketer's data base; querying by a computer the patient toschedule an appointment for the patient with a preferred health careprofessional drawing from the data base of pre-approved appointmentslots; scheduling an appointment for the patient with a preferred healthcare professional drawing from the database of pre-approved appointmentslots; issuing by a computer a confirmatory communication frommarketer's database to preferred health care professional, referring tothe patient by indirect data so as not to transmit name identifiablepatient data over a communications channel, confirming that the timeslot provided by contract is now engaged and blocking that slot fromfurther use; in response to said confirmatory communication, allowingthe health care professional to query by a computer the marketer'ssecure portal and obtain patient data corresponding to that patient forsaid time slot; monitoring by a computer the secure portal to confirmthat the health care professional has accessed and retrieved the patientdata.
 6. The method of claim 5 wherein said preferred health careprofessional providing step is based on the health care professionalmost geographically convenient to the patient.
 7. The method of claim 5wherein said preferred health care professional providing step includesproviding health care professional names based on objective criteriaassociated with selection of professionals from the database.
 8. Themethod according to claim 5 wherein the finding step includes: inresponse to a contact by the interested party, interactively by acomputer, collecting information from said interested party concerningas to how they found the web site; and periodically optimizing thewebsite by modifying its contents in response to survey information toincrease a probability that interested parties searching the internetfor information about the specific medical condition will be directed tothe site.
 9. The method according to claim 5 wherein the qualifying stepincludes: interactively querying the interested party as to thepotential patient's medical condition with respect to subject matter ofthe web site; 1) interactively by a computer querying the interestedpart as to the potential patient's current medical treatment withrespect to the subject matter of the web site; and 2) verifying thatspecific alternative medical options for treating the patient's medicalconditions, not supported by the client's product or therapy, have beenconsidered.
 10. The method according to claim 5 wherein the connectingstep includes: upon obtaining patient consent, recording by a computerpatient information in marketer's database and making patientinformation available only to preferred health care professionals by wayof a secure portal.